Where is the usefulness in such unlikely goals?

President can change discussion

WASHINGTON — When President Barack Obama prepared to stand before the nation Tuesday night to outline his agenda for the coming year, he knew he could count on one inescapable reality: Very little, if any, of what he proposed ever will reach his desk for his signature.

Facing the first Congress of his tenure controlled entirely by the opposition, Obama opted for a message that tacked left even as Capitol Hill tacked right.

The question at the end of the evening boiled down to whether advancing initiatives with little or no hope of passage constituted an act of bold leadership or a feckless waste of time.

Every president throws out ideas in a State of the Union address knowing they won’t succeed, at least right away — to frame the debate, lay down an opening bid, draw a line against adversaries or set the stage for action. But rarely has the disconnect between a president and Congress seemed as wide as when Obama presented plans that ran contrary to the mandate Republicans claim from November’s election victory.

Obama’s advisers said he saw little reason to hold back on his ambitions just because Democrats lost the midterm elections and Republicans were unlikely to go along.

Jon Favreau, his former chief White House speechwriter, said pre-emptively scaling back his goals would be like going into a job interview and asking for the salary the employer is likely to give rather than bargaining for more.

“Now, do I personally think the Republicans will be willing to meet the president halfway on tax reform?” Favreau said. “No, but that shouldn’t stop the president from proposing a solution that he feels would actually help solve the problem.”

But Republicans said he risked looking ineffectual if he simply promoted initiatives that would never be taken seriously by Congress.

Steve Schmidt, who worked in President George W. Bush’s White House and managed Sen. John McCain’s campaign against Obama in 2008, said proposing free community college for most students and more paid family leave for parents seemed ludicrously unrealistic.

“There’s a student body presidency campaign component to this — no more homework and go home at 1 p.m.,” Schmidt said.

Still, even without Congress, promoting these ideas on one of the biggest presidential stages allows Obama to force other political actors to respond. He hopes to embarrass Republicans who protect the rich from more taxes.

“With north of 30 million viewers tuning in, the State of the Union is the Super Bowl of political events,” said Josh Gottheimer, a speechwriter for President Bill Clinton. “It’s an opportunity for a president to drive a new proposal down the field, regardless of legislative viability, and literally change the debate.”